Water, rurality, urbanity, cultural habits and traditions were all key considerations in the design of OODA and OOIOO Architecture’s Leeuwarden Housing Plan. Inspired by the water lilly, the team of architects set out to mimic the living organism and its ability to naturally make a “bridge” between the water and the land world. With a need to combine and establish environmental relationships within the study area, and between the city of Leeuwarden in the Netherlands, the architects chose to create a masterplan based on an abstraction of a set of water lilies. The plan of the project fuses water, green spaces and agricultural areas to create a sustainable residential system that is harmony with both the urban and natural environments.